Snow Falls in Australia + Damaging Winds Today | Your Daily Forecast

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hi everybody. Good morning. Welcome to Daily Forecast Australia. It is Thursday the 7th of May. Yes, thank you for joining me. I wanted to make a quick note before we get into it. Tomorrow's forecast, it's only going to be a express forecast. So, I'm going to try and keep it under 10 minutes. If you can't tell, I'm pretty long-winded when I talk about the weather, and that's just because I enjoy it. So, let's get into today's forecast. But remember, tomorrow is going to be an Express forecast. Okay. I really enjoy the challenge of the express forecast because it is a challenge for me to keep things a little more concise. Today's main weather story is the snow. It's falling right now across Alpine regions.

[00:00:36]So, particularly through the snowy mountains, also lighter falls accumulating across the Victorian Highlands and the central highlands of Tasmania. I will have an update for you in tomorrow's forecast about just how much snow has accumulated. Now, also today we're seeing a noticeably windier day. that is across much of the nation, particularly through the southeast. I'm going to cover that plus a whole lot more in today's forecast. So, let's get straight into it. As we move through the day, we're looking at our synoptic chart. Now, we have this strong high-pressure system. It remains anchored here to the south of WA. It's sitting at around about 1,037 to 138 hector pascals. For those of you playing at home, that's a fairly solid high pressure system, isn't it? For Australia anyway. Now, while it is bringing stable air across much of the interior, it's the edges of the system that are still generating some very gusty conditions today. You'll notice here in the morning, there's going to be areas of more widely uh spaced isobars. That's why the wind in these parts here are generally lighter. These conditions are fairly settled, but it's really limited to just these regions. Where things become a little more active is out here.

[00:01:49]We've got over the Tasmin Sea. There's really no defined low here, but what we do have is a trough. And that's why you can see this great big bend in the isobars. That's a zone right here where the air flow is shifting. It's gently lifting. And that's why we're seeing the band of showers. I'll just quickly flick on for you now. Showers and thunderstorms lining here through the Tasine. Now, closer back to the southeast here, the same setup is enough to keep winds elevated throughout Tasmania. the bass straight. Also, it's helping to draw in cooler air into Victoria. I know you'll be feeling that if you're in Victoria or New South Wales today. Unfortunately for Tasmania, Victoria, and New South Wales, we are really stuck on the gusty side of this setup today. So, we've got those stronger winds very much likely to persist into right through till the weekend. So, around about Saturday morning is where we'll see things begin to ease. Rain and thunderstorm. Now today, rainfall is largely focused along the southeast here, the coastline. We've got scattered light showers extending inland at times. If we head up to WA, we see very limited rainfall. It'll only be light and patchy, but it's taking place over the gold fields and extending up into the outback of South Australia.

[00:03:04]Across Queensland, we're seeing continued patchy shower activity that's happening here through the inland, although it is tapering off. So that's happening particularly across the central regions here stretching from around about Winton through to areas around Roma. These falls are generally going to be light and sporadic further south. So we're going back to Victoria and southern New South Wales. Now we're seeing more consistent shower activity taking place particularly along the coast and the ranges. There will be pockets of moderate falls at times. Now this also extends down into Tazzy. So totals here are going to be lighter and more intermittent, but rainfall nonetheless. Now in terms of the snowfall, some of you are very I'm personally very excited about it as well. Across the New South Wales Alps right now, snow has continued. So we're talking the morning hours of today, Thursday. We're talking around Threadbow, Parisher Valley, up into Cabraara as well. We've got areas at the lower elevations with a rain, snow, kind of like a wet mix. Um, so that's happening all around these surrounding areas where the temperatures just aren't quite allowing some proper snow to develop. Now, the snow is expected to persist through much of the day today in these part parts locally before it gradually eases later into this afternoon. If we head into Victoria now, snowfall is a little short, more short-lived. So, the alpine areas, so we're talking specifically around Woods Point, Mary'sville, Lola, seeing a rain snow mix in these parts. So just wet snow, rain combined that's happening through this morning uh before it mostly clears around the middle of the day today. For Tasmania, it is a much more marginal setup. Only isolated light snow showers expected at the highest elevation. Now, just briefly, I hope you don't mind. Let's step away. We've never done this before. Let's step away from Australia. I want to point out what is happening here over New Zealand, South Island, particularly along the West Coast region. I don't normally talk about New Zealand. I love New Zealand.

[00:05:04]Been there many times. Absolutely adore that place. This is an outstanding setup. We have, like, look at what we're looking at here. We've got a concentrated band of heavy rain and thunderstorms. It's expected from late morning through to the early evening local time for New Zealand. Frequent lightning, intense downpours all along this coastal region and extending slightly inland as well. I hope you don't mind that I wanted to show you this, but it has been a little while since we've seen any kind of intense thunderstorm and lightning activity like this across Australia, so I got excited about it. All right, let's move on to our temperatures. Now, [gasps] uh, leave me a note. I know it would have to be a separate forecast, but from time to time, I know a lot of people transit, they go to New Zealand frequently, either for work or for holidays. Let me know if you'd like to see a New Zealand forecast pop up from time to time. I would be more than happy to do that but I won't do it unless there is a demand for it. Okay, temperatures WA sitting in the mild to warm setup today. Carara, Broom, Karatha all reaching around about 30° today. 25 for Newman, 29 in Canavan and 22 in Perth. Along the south coast, both Albany and Esperance topping out at about 18° this afternoon. Calguli also 18. In in the Northern Territory, we've got warm in the north, cooler in the south or the inland area here. So, we've got Darwin reaching 30, 34 at Jabaroo today, 28 at Namboy, and 30 in Catherine. So, we're easing down to around about 26° at Elliot. And if you are on holidays, if you're visiting Olaroo at the moment, top temperature there today will be 21°. Now, Queensland stays warm across the Cape. So, we'll have 32° at Weiper, Normington, and Georgetown. Along the coast, uh, Cooktown will be 26, 25 for Mai, 24 in Brisbane. Inland, we've got the cooler air. You can see with the color grading here, we've got some cooler air in place. 20° for Thagam Minda and Roma, 22 at Birdsville. New South Wales is where we really see the cool change. It's very much being felt today. Inland areas, I mean, it's still not freezing, but it's significantly cooler than the above average temperatures we saw just a few days ago. So, we've got inland areas all of around here sitting in the mid- teens. So, only 14 for Broken Hill today, 17 at Burke, 14 at Griffith, and just 7° 7° at Orange today. Had a lovely gentleman request uh some details about Orange. I hear that you are, if you're seeing this today, you are on holidays there, visiting family for the next week. I love doing these call outs. If you have anywhere that you want to feature in a forecast, just let me know.

[00:07:41]So, orange, cool today, 7°. It will warm up a little bit on the weekend for you into the snowy mountains now. Threadbow reaching only one degree. The wind is definitely going to make it feel cooler.

[00:07:52]We'll talk more about the wind in just a moment. Kuma tops out at 8° and in the ACT, CRA will be just a top of 10° today. The coast is milder, particularly in the northeast. I looked at our temperature anomaly chart. I won't show that for you today just for the lack of time. There was one tiny little patch in the northeast of New South Wales along the coastline there. one tiny section of above average temperatures for today.

[00:08:16]Everywhere else, stone cold blue indicating below average temperatures for this time of year. Okay, 22 at Coffs Harour, uh Sydney in the high teens.

[00:08:25]Also along the south coast, all of this region here, we've got the cooler temperatures all hovering in the mid teens today, but windy. I keep tempting the wind. Okay, Victoria, it's cold uh cool to cold across the board really.

[00:08:38]We've got coastal areas sitting around 11° for Malakuda, Orbost, and Bansdale.

[00:08:44]Alpine regions just reaching hovering in the low single digits. So 3° today for Hotham and Falls Creek. Melbourne tops out at 13° today. Same for Jalong, 12° at Apollo Bay, 14 in Portland. Inland, we'll see Horscham and Balmoral reaching 13° and Mildura reaching 15. into South Australia now. We've got temperatures across much of the state sitting in the mid to high teens. Kuba Pediat will actually reach 20°. Same for Mari, 19 in Mangarani and Oak Valley. Although along the air peninsula here, Yalata and Sajjuna both reaching 17. 15 for Port Lincoln and 15 in Adelaide today.

[00:09:25]Finally, in Tazzay, it's cooler at elevation. Lake Slair will reach just 2° and 3° at Cradle Mountain today. Hobart tops out at 9°, 11 for Lawncest and Bernie, and 12 along the east coast at Scamanda. Okay, winds. It is notably windier across the whole country today, especially compared to what we featured.

[00:09:47]I think it was just two day two days ago where we had really calm conditions throughout. So, what I want to quickly mention here, we yes, we have high pressure. It is dominating. Yes, once again, correct. We're sitting here along the edge of that system, and that's where or these regions that I'm showing you. Anyway, that's where we see this pressure gradient really tighten up, particularly down here through the southeast, uh, as well as up here, parts of the north. That's what's driving the strong winds today. There's often that misconception, high pressure always equals calm, stable. Not always the case. I'd love to get into the why, but I think we just need to hold it there for now. One of the most uh one of the more intense regions that I want to focus on quickly is the Pilra. So in WA, this region here is where we're going to have wind gusts easily pushing in excess of 60 to 70 km per hour today. And that's particularly happening here around Karatha, Port Headland and reaching inwards towards Marble Bar today. We're also seeing elevated gusts through the central these central regions here of Australia. So we're particularly talking around Alice Springs. Gusts are going to be quite strong today. Once again, easily in excess of 60 km per hour. Across the southeast, this is where it gets very, very gusty today, especially along coastal Victoria. You can see here with the color grading. I'm really glad that everyone's enjoying the legend that I've added to the screen. I I agree. It's very helpful. So, we're talking um look at the way the bass straight just lights up. And then across here into Tasmania as well, we've got gusts. I know it's it sounds more modest. We've got gusts generally sitting between the 50 to 65 kilometer per hour, but we are really going to see those wind speeds or those gust speeds highly elevated across the exposed coastal regions as well as some of the elevated terrain in the south.

[00:11:37]Finally, along parts of the New South Wales coastline. So, we're talking far south coast here, extending right up past Sydney, reaching as far north as part Port McQuary. Actually, gusts here easily surpass 70 to 80 km hour at times, especially around these more exposed coastal areas this afternoon.

[00:11:56]Now, just referencing back to a couple of sentences ago, you might notice here, I'll zoom in a bit for you. The winds are actually lighter over some of these areas of the higher terrain today. And that is because the the air flow is actually being disrupted and sheltered by these ranges. So while the strong winds are sitting around the edges here, we see the color here. Uh where the pressure gradients are tighter once again, that's because the air can move a little more freely. And sometimes, once again, another misconception, it's always going to be so super duper windy in the mountains at the higher elevation. not always the case and we're actually seeing that at play today. So, for the sake, yes, for the sake of saving time, let's breeze through our cloud cover detail for today. The key feature here, we can see it. It's this broadband of cloud sitting to the south of the mainland. It's extending across the bite into Tazzy. Uh this is linked to our more active weather today. In contrast, look here. Much of the interior, it remains relatively clear under the influence of the high pressure system. So, we've got clear, sunny skies for much of the Northern Territory, uh, Northern West Australia, even into central parts of, um, central and western New South Wales today. Uh, over the Tasmin Sea here, we see, look here, the narrow band of cloud that marks the trough. So, oops, just lost my spot.

[00:13:18]Now, that's associated with the shower and thunderstorm activity. This is lining up and it's extending towards New Zealand. So overall, we've got a pretty clear divide when we're talking about our cloud cover today. We've got a quieter setup inland and then we've got cloud uh activity focus on the southern edges and also out into the Tasmin Sea.

[00:13:38]Today I'm mixing things up and I'm really eager to hear your feedback. I don't know if you've been able to sense it. I've been getting very frustrated with our rainfall accumulation because uh some days it's yeah, it's reliable and it's enjoyable to see what's coming.

[00:13:52]Other days I find when especially when I go back and look at my notes and look at what happened in retrospect, it is sometimes very misleading. So what I'm going to test, we're just going to trial this for a few forecasts, maybe about a week. We're going to look at our 2day, we're going to look at a 48 hour snapshot together of rainfall accumulation. I was beginning to notice that just looking at that 24hour snapshot, it felt so redundant because we'd already discussed our rain and thunderstorm activity really early in the forecast. So let's do 48 hours. and see how this goes. Okay, so let's get that ready for you. Now, looking at the rainfall that we see on screen now over the next couple of days, the pattern is pretty selective, isn't it, with where the rainfall is going to be. So, the most consistent falls we see it remains focused on Tasmania, particularly the west here, west through to the south.

[00:14:42]That's where the showers are going to continue to feed in off the southern ocean. We're also seeing higher totals, the highest totals really, you know, for the whole nation over this period with the moderate uh accumulations building up. Um I'm just showing you here on the screen. And that's basically uh we've got it across the areas of elevated trains. Sorry, I was trying to jump ahead. Let's just keep moving along the southeast of the mainland. This is what I was thinking. Should I just jump straight to this? And I got into a bit of a word salad, but coastal Victoria, far south coast of New South Wales, all of this region here, we're seeing, it looks light and patchy rainfall, but it's rainfall nonetheless, especially when you compare it to what's happening across the rest of the nation, which is not a whole lot. So, totals remain on the lower side. It is confined to the coastal fringes and the more exposed areas up in the tropics. This is worth noting. We're seeing the developing signals across the far north of Queensland, especially here, northeast coast. So, we've got scattered showers and storms beginning to increase. I have scanned ahead. I'm not going to bog you down with even more time to show you what looks to be coming. Maybe we do need to start introducing those long range forecasts. I'm not sure. Okay. So, it's not um it's not like a super intense outlook, but we are going to see rainfall building along those areas of the Queensland coast. And yes, let's just move on from that. Okay, warnings because this is worth mentioning. We've got a few key warnings to be aware of today, particularly across the Southeast as you would have expected. We've got a sheep grazers warning in place and that is for New South Wales Victoria as well with the cold temperatures. Also the shower, the gusty sort of southwesterly winds here creating these difficult conditions for livestock. So I like adding this information in uh for the sake of the farmers out there. A lot of you are out on farms or you might just be interested in this and I like to add that when it is popping up from time to time. There's also a marine wind warning in effect for multiple states. So, we've got WA, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania all have strong wind warnings for hazardous conditions along many of these coastlines today. Tazzy also saw a bushwalker weather alert. That was yesterday. I fully expect that to be reissued for today. It's just that as I monitor the time, it will probably pop up as I'm uploading this video. So, just something to be aware of. That was because snow, and that's happening right now. snow was expected down to around 5 to 700 m of elevation. So, that is definitely some hazardous alpine conditions if you're out there trying to enjoy a hike or camping or whatnot.

[00:17:11]Okay, that concludes today's forecast. I hope you enjoyed it. It ended up being a long one. Once again, I don't know how that happens. Uh, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop them into the comments. If you haven't already subscribed, please consider doing so. That would make me very happy.

[00:17:26]And if you enjoyed this forecast or if you learned something new, please go ahead and give it a like. Okay, thanks for staying right till the very end. I will see you tomorrow for the express forecast. Okay, bye-bye.